Friday, September 1st, 2023

First-time manager

Navigating the transition from sales to sales management. For many successful and ambitious salespeople, their first move into sales management is perhaps the defining moment in their career. Some will succeed. Some will fail. Some will make the move and then wish they had never abandoned the simpler life of a salesperson. And some will remain perfectly happy avoiding the… 


Thursday, July 6th, 2023

Build deeper connections

Understanding best practices for a buyer-centric sales approach. A buyer-centric approach to selling is table stakes in today’s competitive business landscape – and yet, buyer-centric approaches across companies and industries seem to be vastly different. It begs the question: How do sales leaders and sales representatives interpret buyer-centricity and are they aligned on its crucial components? To further explore this… 


Thursday, July 6th, 2023

The top five sales myths

Maybe it’s time to re-examine what you may have always taken for granted. Salespeople are born not made Whilst having confidence, a positive attitude and being generally likeable are all useful traits, they do not guarantee success in sales. The skills required to be effective take years to learn and hone. Too many sellers are thrown in at the deep… 


Wednesday, July 5th, 2023

Sales leaders should position technology as “teammate”

Analysts suggests that sales organizations which actively position technology as a “teammate” for sellers – rather than just another tool – will unlock seller productivity and enable highquality deals. Speakers at the Gartner CSO & Sales Leader Conference 2023, in Las Vegas on 16-17 May, explored how technology – particularly artificial intelligence – is key in augmenting the unique value… 


Thursday, April 20th, 2023

Embracing all generations in the workplace

This paper has been adapted from the author’s Masters project and discusses how leaders can best cultivate “superpowers” that are applicable to multi-generational organisations and teams. Background During my time at the SAP Global Platinum Customer Unit in Walldorf (Germany), I was invited for a meeting with the Dutch SAP Managing Director. During that meeting he offered me the job… 


Thursday, April 20th, 2023

War on attrition

How can effective coaching support the retention of employees within an organisation? Introduction This work-based project covers the topic of employee retention. The subject is very relevant for my organisation as we are 20 months into what’s being labelled the Great Resignation (Klotz, 2021). Employee talent is the lifeline of any business. My research project investigated how a successful coaching… 


Thursday, April 20th, 2023

Questions, questions, questions!

How and why we ask questions is important. The twins of curiosity and ignorance Dr Marlys Witte is “a surgeon without hands”1, a researcher and educator of medical students and the self-proclaimed mother of the “medical ignorance” movement. She has not just adopted the Socratic method of educating through questions; her medical education model also develops the capability to be… 


Tuesday, February 14th, 2023

Quarterly forecasting or healthy pipeline?

Sales operations are having a golden era. Organizations that understand this will come out winners in the years to come. Right idea wrong time? Are sales leaders ready for what sales operations gurus can deliver? In my entrepreneurial business career, I have learnt the importance of timing – quite frequently making the right decisions at the wrong time. One example,… 


Friday, September 30th, 2022

Conferences and exhibitions 8.5 2022

National Sales Conference (UK) Thursday, 10 November… 


Thursday, September 29th, 2022

Making conflict work

While conflict needs to be managed well, it can also be productive. Conflict is a frequent challenge among business relationships with customers, partners and suppliers. Inside organisations, conflicts within teams and cross-functionally are also common, yet sales professionals often feel ill-equipped to manage conflict well. Unresolved conflict can spread and grow, and result in stress and well-being issues for those… 


Friday, April 22nd, 2022

Conferences and exhibitions 8.3 2022

GSSI – Global Sales Science Institute –… 


Tuesday, January 11th, 2022

The power of relationships and purpose

Digital is enhancing the way we manage business and sales organisations, but analytics are underpinned by relationships and human behaviours. The value tied up in customer relationships is vast but hard to measure; purpose is now a profit centre and predictable human behaviours can help us to forecast sales more accurately. These were just three of the key takeaways from… 


Monday, January 10th, 2022

TOTAL Coaching

Developing and implementing a coaching culture within a sales environment to effect real transformation in coaching across your organisation. Abstract Within sales organisations the value and importance of coaching is acknowledged as a key element to the continuing success of the business, including the development and retention of employees in the organisation. In recent years, the importance of this aspect,… 


Monday, January 10th, 2022

Creating an effective coaching culture

How embedded is coaching in your organisation? Introduction In the past few decades, coaching has become an established professional learning method. Some sales organisations have dedicated staff coaches, but leaders tend to underuse coaching to tap into the full potential and motivation of their teams. Frequently job ads for sales leaders include the requirement to coach; however, many feel underequipped,… 


Monday, January 10th, 2022

Is coaching the critical sales management skill?

It’s all about time, skills and mindset. Successful sales managers must master a range of important skills. They need to make sure that they recruit the right people and help them to realise their potential, encourage their teams to follow and contribute to the organisation’s learned best practices, ensure that opportunities are well-qualified, that pipelines are well managed and that… 


Monday, January 10th, 2022

Conferences and exhibitions 8.1 2022

AMA Winter Academic Conference (in-person) – Las… 


Tuesday, September 28th, 2021

Conferences and exhibitions 7.4 2021

Global Sales Transformation XVI 7 October 2021… 


Monday, September 27th, 2021

The role of trust in sales

If we expect our customers to trust us, we need to develop both an internal and an external culture of trust. Trust is an essential foundational element in any sales environment, and it can (and must) take many forms. Perhaps the most obvious manifestation lies in the relationship between the salesperson (and the vendor they represent) and the customer’s decision-making… 


Tuesday, July 27th, 2021

Conferences and exhibitions 7.3 2021

AMA Virtual Summer Academic Conference (virtual event)… 


Monday, July 26th, 2021

Establishing the foundations of a coaching culture

The ability to coach is a key attribute that distinguishes truly effective first-level sales managers from the pack. What’s the one thing that separates truly effective first-level sales managers from the rest? You can make a case for their ability to motivate or to create an environment of responsibility and accountability, but there’s good reason to believe that their ability…